jamesd@percival.UUCP (James Deibele) (02/06/88)
In article <768@astroatc.UUCP> jojo@astroatc.UUCP (Jon Wesener) writes: >Actually, I'd think otherwise. As technology expands the dissemination of >information seems to expand with it. Look at the availability of movies >now that vcrs are common. Any movie is available, not just what the theatre's >are showing. There are also video companies that release only on video and >not on the big screen making it possible for more movies to be made than >previously. > >The same is true with music. The technology movement going on in music is >making it possible for any band to cut an album of very high quality for >real cheap. Being closely linked with local bands and underground music >I've seen the effect of $500 4-track recorders, midi-interfaces, and >pc's being used for patching and sequencing. I'm expecting an explosion >of new music any year now, and actually experiencing it to some degree. > >I expect that in the future, your home entertainment system will be hooked >up to your personal computer. Movies, music, games, programs, etc will be >stored and retrieved at your will. I also expect networks to become >common in the home. Right now, you probably have a lot of information >being pumped into your home at 9600 baud over your cable line, I do. This >will probably be expanded as technology grows to be 2 way and possibly >nicer than usenet. If the above are just files, I could see movies, albums, >etc being sent over these nets, or from bbs's even. The only problem would >be for bands to collect money in this method. But think about if you did it >shareware wise. Instead of paying for an album manufactured by some inbetween >record company, you could send a fraction of the album cost directly to the >band and download the album yourself... > >I think information may really flow in the future. Just look at how public >domain(and not so public domain) software and images are spreading on BBS's >and USENET and other comercial networks like GENIE. I couldn't believe how >my game spread across the country from the middle of nowhere in a couple of >weeks! > Getting paid for your work would definitely be a problem. Part of the appeal of electro-magnetic media (audio cassettes, video cassettes, floppy diskettes) is the ease and speed with which anyone can duplicate them. There seems to be a constant struggle in the respective industries (record labels, film studios, software houses) between users and producers, with the users steadily gaining power. How many copy-protected software programs have you purchased this year? Actually, this has always seemed like a red herring to me --- I've friends who used to measure their status by the number of protectionschemes they cracked. Whoever had the largest container of disks was the "ultimate wizard" or whatever. A more significant problem is the ever-increasing quantity of recordings and programs. I can copy a thousand diskettes relatively quickly, but I can't learn a thousand different programs in a short amount of time. I can dupe tapes on a high-speed dubbing machine, but I've only got x amount of time to listen to those tapes. The "barriers to entry" (gotta use those old economic catch phrases somehow) meant that more than one person had to participate. A director had to persuade the actors and cameramen to participate, a singer had to get a backup band to play for her, and so on. Now, with multi-track machines, you can be the whole band. It's still a little difficult to do a crowd scene if you're the only person in the film, but I suppose it can be done. The barriers to entry didn't assure quality (I'm sure you can quickly name several TV shows or bands that you consider worthless), but somebody besides the artist thought the work had merit. It used to be simple. If you wanted to see "Citizen Kane," you went to the theater. If you weren't willing, or couldn't afford, to go to the theater, you didn't see the movie. Then came TV. Now you had to make a different kind of choice: you could go out with the boys/girls/aliens or stay home and watch the show. Then came VCR's, and then widespread piracy, and . . . Now the problem is separating the wheat from the chaff. What's good? What's not? Who can you trust to tell you the truth about each? No one reviewer can keep up with all the records pressed, or movies shot. It's now quick, cheap, and relatively easy to enter messages into far- ranging electronic networks. Does that mean that comp.sys.ibm.pc is "better" because there's so many more people hooked into it? When you get 2 answers to a question instead of one, but they say two different things, are you better off? There's a lot of focus on moving the data through the pipe without too much analysis as to how good it is. Information Shock is here, it's real and it's getting worse. Try reading every book published on computers. Try reading every magazine on computers. Try reading every newsgroup on your system. Or to close the loop, and bring it back to your original theme: try listening to every band in your hometown, even excluding the garage bands. Modern man may be reduced to not a cowboy (ala Gibson), but a surfer: those who survive are those who can skim the surface cleanly, without getting sucked down into the undertow of specialization, without getting thrown off by the sudden surges of change, smoothly riding the waves, sensitive always to impending change, constantly alert until the ride is over. -- James S. Deibele jamesd@qiclab or jamesd@percival TECHBooks: The Computer Book Specialists (800) TECH-BKS 3646 SE Division Portland, OR 97202 (503) 238-1005 TECHBooks One BBS (#1:105/4.0); 3/12/24 (503) 760-1473
sdp@zeus.hf.intel.com (Scott Peterson) (02/08/88)
These issues were addressed to some degree in _The_Media_Lab_, by Stuart Brand (ISBN 0-670-81442-3).
eric@acad.UUCP (Eric Lyons) (02/23/88)
> Getting paid for your work would definitely be a problem. Well, I'm not so sure. The question is more one of whether it's getting harder and harder to get paid for intellectual property (software, music, books, etc) PERIOD. My livelihood depends on our company being able to sell software at $3000 a copy that costs us $16 to manufacture, and it is solely up to the public's conscience whether we get paid or not. No amount of legislation will remedy a society that feels it can freely copy intellectual property without remuneration to its creators. Also, there are some interesting technology / market comparisons to be made here. Did you know that the music industry had a net GAIN in sales as a result of selling pre-recorded tapes? And another net gain from CD's? We're not talking new music here, just a new format, and a perfectly copyable one at that. Better stuff tends to make people buy it. > A more significant problem is the ever-increasing quantity of recordings > and programs. I can copy a thousand diskettes relatively quickly, but I can't > learn a thousand different programs in a short amount of time. I can dupe > tapes on a high-speed dubbing machine, but I've only got x amount of time to > listen to those tapes. The "barriers to entry" (gotta use those old economic > catch phrases somehow) meant that more than one person had to participate. Wait a minute!! An ever-increasing quantity of recordings and programs is a PROBLEM!!! SINCE WHEN!!! Cite an example when abundant supply of an art form or intellectual property has created a "saturation" of that art or property. This is the equivalent to saying that if there were fewer book stores, we'd have better books. Granted, the time we have to read / appreciate / listen to / etc. them is finite, but Society determines the relative quality of things. Also granted, Society may be degenerating into slimy, boneless lumps of consumers that eat, read, watch and listen to all that is produced. > What's good? What's not? Who can you trust to tell you the truth about each? Hey, what's ever been good? Who could you ever trust? What's changed? > Information Shock is here, it's real and it's getting worse. Try > reading every book published on computers. Try reading every magazine on > computers. Try reading every newsgroup on your system. Or to close the > loop, and bring it back to your original theme: try listening to every > band in your hometown, even excluding the garage bands. Modern man may be > reduced to not a cowboy (ala Gibson), but a surfer: those who survive are > those who can skim the surface cleanly, without getting sucked down into > the undertow of specialization, without getting thrown off by the sudden > surges of change, smoothly riding the waves, sensitive always to impending > change, constantly alert until the ride is over. Whoah, hey, how 'bout "try reading every book ever published" or "try reading every magazine"? Why get specific about computers? Pa-leese, you're sounding too much like my father (and his father, and his father before him). Only now we're already complaining about how the "quality of computer life" is get- ting worse and worse. Okay. So these are the heydays of computerdom, maybe. Enjoy it while it's hot. But on the original theme of computers / music / how easy it is to produce one with the other et al, I ain't too hip to a lot of what's being done with the form either. I've been a musician for 14 years (my avocation) and you would think that computers (my vocation) combined with that fact would make me a natural fit with what's happening today in the musical/computer business. Ha. For some reason, I just can't do it. Give me a Fender Rhoades and a Strat plugged straight into a Twin Reverb any day over drum machines and drone sequencers playing this week's digital rap-o-matic. It's not that I can't appreciate what you can do with computers and music. They are, in fact, natural partners for exploring the art. But, as usual, it's the application that can make or break it for me. And I'll always pay for the stuff I like (this separates me from criminals), and I'll always find out about the stuff I like (this separates me from animals). Eric. sun!acad!eric